Resources for the Homeless in Portland, Oregon

Homelessness has been increasing in Portland and a resource from 2022 found that 6,000 people in the area have experienced homelessness. This number was found through the Metro’s Point-in-Time Homelessness Count on Jan. 26, 2022. This number has increased since then as the population has increased within the city. Since this is such a common issue in Oregon it is important that the residents of Oregon keep their humanity in mind and aid others who may be struggling. There are so many resources available, but these are some popular ones.

The first resource being Blanchet House. It is one nonprofit organization located in Old Town. Its mission is to, “Offer food, shelter, and aid to all those in need of a safe place to be nourished and restored. Assist the transformation of each life we touch with compassion and dignity” (Pettigrew, 2022). Blanchet House offers two residential programs for men. One is a 7-to-9-month program in downtown Portland for men struggling with addiction, unemployment, housing, etc. The other is located on the Blanchet Farm in Yamhill County. This program is more targeted for men battling substance addiction. Additionally, Blanchet House has a partnership with the Mental Health & Addiction Association of Oregon. Through their Pathway Home, MHAAO provides some peer services such as case management and access to housing. Anyone who wants to refer someone to the program can do so here (Pettigrew, 2022). One of their well known and popular programs is the free meal program. “Three times a day, six days a week, no questions asked,” Jon Seibert, Blanchet House’s Director of Programs, said about the free meals that they offer.

A line of people wraps around the Blanchet House in Northwest Portland during the COVID-19 pandemic, March 24, 2020. (KOIN)

Additional Resources:

• Street Roots - provides resources for reduced or free services within Multnomah County

• Hygiene 4 All - public health and sanitation-related services such as foot and wound care, shower trailers and first aid packages

• Affordable Rents for College Students program - subsidizes monthly rent payments

Homelessness could happen to anyone, it is our job as Oregonians to know of resources available and spread the word on them to those in need. Provide the resources for those in need and treat others with care.

Work Cited

Pettigrew, J. (2022, September 21). Need food or shelter in Portland? Try these resources. KOIN.com; KOIN.com. https://www.koin.com/news/portland-oregon-homeless-housing-insecurity-resources/

Vegan Leather Part 2

Vegan Leather Pt. 2: Mushroom

We recently posted about a renewable, cruelty-free alternative to animal leather made from the pineapple plant, Piñatex; here we introduce a second alternative: 

Vegan Leather Part 1

Vegan Leather Pt. 1: Pineapple.

Could the Pineapple plant really offer a viable alternative to animal leather?

The fur industry has had a long history of conflict with animal rights groups due to their methods of production, but leather hasn't received quite the same level of attention. We know fur comes from skinning animals, but so does leather. It doesn't take much to understand why neither of these products can be produced humanely; a quick Google search can provide more gruesome details than one would like to know (I won't post them here).

What if there were an alternative material? One that provided the same or similar quality and texture without the suffering of animals and factory workers alike?

Keep Chickens not Lawns!

Chickens chickens everywhere! The world’s most popular domestic bird has moved from the rural farms of past, to the urban backyards of the future. As the country becomes more educated on the environmental and health impacts of industrial farming, chicken keeping has become a fun, cost saving venture for urban dwellers across the country. While most urban chicken keepers flaunt the environmental benefits of free range-organic-local eggs, chickens offer unspoken environmental rewards.

Top 5 reasons chicken keeping helps the environment: 

1. Chickens are nature’s lawn mowers – although chickens eat everything (literally everything) growing in your backyard, they also eat a healthy supply of grass if you let them. Allowing chickens to openly graze means little-to-no need for a lawn mower. 
   
2. Chickens love bugs – chickens receive a large amount of their protein from the insects they eat living in grass and bushes. Chickens will spend hours making sure your backyard is free from pests that would normally require harsh pesticides to get rid of. 
   
3. Chicken-scaping means no chemicals – because chickens have highly sensitive systems, it’s important not to use fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides around them. The great news is chicken manure is the perfect fertilizer, which can be collected and used in compost and gardening. 
   
4. Chickens require little food and water – chickens were bread as domestic animals for food and eggs, so obviously you have to feed them. They have a grain based diet and many chicken keepers prefer organic-corn and soy free grain which is better for the environment. They only require 1 scoop of food per day because the rest of their day is spent eating bugs, grass, and left over fruits and vegetable scraps. They do require clean water, but inexpensive chicken watering systems can be purchased which allow for more water conservation. 
   
5. Chickens can be raised for food and pets – most urban chicken farmers are more interested in egg-laying pets, but chickens can also be raised as food birds. Not only does this cut down on grocery costs, but it has allowed urban dwellers to take a more active interest in where their food comes from, and the dangers of factory farming for our health and the environment. 
   

Creating a Self-Sustaining Garden is the new Landscaping

Do you have a vision for what your frontyard/backyard looks like? There are so many ways you can go about it. You go crazy just looking over your pinterest boards and at times, get so overwhelmed, more so that your plans gets pushed back. As if that's not discouraging enough, landscaping can get quite pricey. Instead of the standard grass field, and the extra cost to maintain them, i.e. mowing, fertilizers, water usage - you can incorporate a mixture of systems, that will not only make your backyard/frontyard visually appealing but it can also self-sustain itself. Less maintenance is a better option for those of you who are always busy.

To get you started, here is a short article from Jim and Mary's, Creating a Self Sustaining Garden to Feed your Family:

http://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2014/07/30/creating-a-self-sustaining-garden-to-feed-your-family-how-to-grow-healthy-food-on-the-cheap/

Here is another article, 3 Simple Steps to an Off-Grid, Self-Sustaining Garden:
http://www.offthegridnews.com/survival-gardening-2/3-simple-steps-to-an-off-grid-self-sustaining-garden/

WaterSense

WaterSense, is a partnership program by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that helps protect our nation's water supply by suggesting simple ways to reduce water usage with water-efficient products and services.

With the irrigation season just around the corner, it is time to start your Spring-cleaning and check your irrigation system before you start watering.  Sprinkler heads may have been damaged from winter weather and one broken or leaking sprinkler head can waste up to 25,000 gallons of water in just six months.  Sprinkler Spruce-Up is a WaterSense program that recommends four simple steps of inspect, connect, direct, and select to make your irrigation system more efficient.  It is also a good idea to check your sprinkler heads throughout the irrigation season as they can get damaged from lawn mowers as well. Watch the video below to learn more about the sprinkler spruce up program.

The WaterSense website also has great resources for ways to be more efficient by saving water, energy, and money.  Look for the WaterSense label on water efficient products. This label can be found on weather-based irrigation controllers and more! Click here, to learn about the WaterSense label. 

Barreling Toward Storm Water Run-Off Reductions

Where does your storm water run-off go? Are you using it efficiently? Most people don’t realize that you can make your storm water work for you! Ways to utilize your rain water include rain gardens, capturing the water for use in gardens, and install berms and vegetated swales.

How can you get started? Let’s talk for a second about rain gardens! Rain gardens are used to improve the quality of the water that enters them and reduce the amount of storm water run-off that enters storm water drains. These gardens are usually divided into three sections of plants consisting of plants that can tolerate varying amounts of water. See here for a complete guide to building your rain garden!

If you would like to save your storm water fro later use around your landscape, a rain barrel might be the way to go. Hundreds of gallons of water can be captured for later use in rain barrels and are particularly helpful in areas with wet and dry seasons. See this guide for building your own rain barrel.

Installing berms and vegetated swales is a third option for storm water. Swales are basically just ditches, and berms are really just small hills. If you already have a sloped yard, you’re half way there! Placing plants that can tolerate both dry and wet conditions is best. Check in with your local Environmental Services department for a list of native plants appropriate for your area. Have a great time using your storm water, and happy swaling! 

Alternative Eco-friendly Landscape Suggestions

Ecopol Project continues with it's alternative tips and suggestions for having the lawn you want without putting the environment at risk. While investigating alternative solutions I stumbled across a video in which horticulture expert Melinda Myers shares 5 easy steps that make environmental and financial sense. The five steps are:

• Be water wise
• Recycle yard waste in your landscape
• Make your own compost
• Manage pest in harmony with nature
• Energy wise landscape design

Melinda Myers goes into great detail with each step and will be sure to give any lawn care enthusiast a tip they can use to support your environment and ours a well.

If you would like to learn more about Melinda Myers check out her at: http://www.melindamyers.com/

Landscape Planning is Environmental Planning

Landscaping is the act of improving or changing the natural features of the terrain. Landscape planning is akin to environmental planning. The areas with priority in the landscape planning include water management, transport, waste management, as well as design for sustainable development.

One of the best ways to ensure sustainability is landscape planning. The best way to ensure that future generations are able to enjoy the environment later is to employ good planning techniques today. This is an interesting study that explores landscape planning and sustainability planning.

http://eujournal.org/index.php/esj/article/viewFile/2586/2447

Please take a second out of your day to take this short survey about yardcare. You might find out something about yourself or your yard that you did not previously know.

What a Difference a Difference Can Make

As humans our power to consume resources is growing exponentially as our global population increases.  Because of this it is important to spread awareness about sustainable approaches to industries that are consuming at a faster rate than our environment can replenish these resources.  While we have seen the green-building initiatives gain traction in the last decade, we still have a long way to go.  Lawn care and maintenance might seem like an industry where the sustainability issue is irrelevant, but just because the plants are green does not mean that the methods used to achieve our desired lawn aesthetic do anything at all to conserve or maintain important resources.  The basic economics of lawn care show that while around $45 billion is spent annually in the US to manicure and maintain lawns, about another $100 billion in damage is caused by invasive species.  Additionally, the nurseries that market and sell these aggressive and harmful plants are not liable for any of the damages.

If this seems counter-intuitive it’s because it is and certainly not sustainable.  It seems odd that an industry that generates this much revenue from lawn care also incurs expenses for damage more than twice the maintenance cost.  While certain states like New Hampshire do have legislation regarding invasive species, many do not.  While this could change at some point in the future, for now the government has little say in the matter and therefore it is up to us to spread awareness and do our part.  Check out this website to see what a difference a difference can make and think about adopting some of these habits as your own.

How We Can Help End Microbeads

As we know the effects of Microbeads are very harmful to our aquatic ecosystem but by utilizing simple techniques we can put a stop to the production and purchase of the harmful micro-plastics. By sharing information about Microbeads and their harmful effects via word of mouth, signing petitions/creating petitions or social media we are able to take small steps to make a larger impact against the production and purchase of Microbeads. Let's help protect our oceanic wildlife by signing a few petitions, it takes less than a minute, its free, and in return we are rewarded with cleaner oceans, happier marine life and we have taken one more step to creating a healthier environment altogether.

1. Let's help ban the bead in Minnesota!

2. Let's boycott Microbead products everywhere!

3. Let's pledge to not buy products containing Microbeads and support legislation to end it's use!

4. Let's start a petition of our own on Change.org to end Microbeads!
5. Let's support the Stop Microbeads community on Facebook!
6. Let's let our friends on Facebook, Twitter & other social media platforms, know about the harmful effects of Microbeads!

Heres to another bill banning Microbeads!

In the month of November a measure to ban Microbeads in Columbus, Ohio was introduced by state representatives, John Patterson and Kent Smith.  Lake Eerie in Michigan, is one of the largest fresh water ecosystems in the world and the ban on Microbeads will surely help to keep this body of water and all of its creatures clean and healthy!

Click here to read more!

Sources

http://www.monroenews.com/news/2015/nov/28/bill-banning-microbeads-makes-debut-ohio-legislatu/

http://www.beatthemicrobead.org/en/bill-banning-microbeads-makes-debut-in-ohio-legislature

Fracking and Climate Change

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as ‘fracking’, is a drilling technique used to obtain oil and natural gas from deep in the ground. Patented in 1949 by Halliburton, the practice has expanded and advanced through today, with many companies taking part in this technique. The companies drill deep holes into the earth and cases it with steel and cement, then they pump a mixture of sand, water and chemicals into the well at high pressures, fracturing the rock, allowing natural gasses to flow out of the rock, through the tunnel to the surface where it is treated and removed. Generally, the wells ‘dry up’ within a few years, then they are plugged and the companies move on to other areas. Since 9/11 and conflicts with many countries with high rates of oil production and export, fracking has seen a boom in the U.S., in the last five years alone the U.S. has a daily increase of 3.7 million barrels of oil, dropping the import of oil by 44%. In 2012, the U.S. became the #1 producer of natural gas, removing Russia from the top spot. Obviously, this has been good for the economy of the U.S. but has it been good for our environment?

Environmental Impact:

With fracking, the use of natural gases have become much more abundant than the use of oil and coal. Natural gases output carbon dioxide at less than half the rate of oil and coal, which should be a good thing for the atmosphere. But, what studies are finding is that because the natural gases are more abundant suddenly (because of the prevalence of fracking), and cheaper than coal and oil imported from the Middle East, the rates of consumption have gone up, thus increasing the lowered rates of carbon output. Another problem with fracking is the release of natural gases into the atmosphere while drilling. Methane is the gas that could have the most alarming consequences, being 72 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, trapping heat in the atmosphere. Besides affecting the atmosphere, fracking has had negative effects on our nation’s human water supply, variously from leaks into communities’ ground water supplies and drinking wells to the high volume of water needed to use for the process itself. There have also been a number of earthquakes directly related to fracking practices. Another extremely unfortunate side effect of fracking is that it has taken the focus and funding away from actual clean energy resources that would not be harmful to the environment, such as solar and wind energy. With the funding going mostly towards fracking, solar and wind power research and technology funding has suffered greatly, unable to make strides towards clean energy. How can we shift funding back towards clean energy that is safer for personal health and safer for environmental health to slow down climate change?

Watch this Documentary:

Check out these links: 

http://www.livescience.com/39406-fracking-wasterwater-injection-caused-ohio-earthquakes.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=most-popular&li_campaign=related-test

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2014/10/american-power-fracking-boom-2014101121933879758.html

http://news.discovery.com/earth/global-warming/fracking-makes-climate-change-worse-not-better-141015.htm

http://grist.org/climate-energy/edf-defends-its-controversial-study-of-methane-leaks-from-fracking-wells/

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/05062015/fracking-has-contaminated-drinking-water-epa-now-concludes

Personal and Political Action on Climate Change

               Climate change threats cannot be stopped only by simple personal actions. Yes we need to take a position and need to change our behaviors toward our earth, but because it is a global issue we need to have a global actions. However, that doesn't mean you can't do something about it. There are important things you can do to reduce your impact on the environment. But most importantly is to support and motivate your government to work hardly in order to reduce climate change threats. The government action needs a great support from people who cares about their environment. Both government and personal actions would produce noticeable results.

                We have a recent example of government movement, the United States is leading global efforts to discourse the danger of climate change. President Obama is taking the biggest phase yet to fight climate change by confirming America’s Clean Power Plan, which sets the first-ever carbon pollution values for power plants. This action with other important plans would not been taken without the collaboration of non-governmental and local organizations from around the world tin order to protect the environment. Your personal actions and government actions will defiantly make a different and will help the earth. Always be in touch with climate change news and always be ready to change your behaviors for better in order to help your government and your earth.

Read more about President Obama plans here:  https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change

President Obama's Clean Power Plant Plan

 

President Obama has recently made some headlines in the news by introducing a controversial environmental and energy plan.  The plan is basically an executive order to force coal fired power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.  This is the biggest stance the president has taken to fight climate change.  These said power plants account for about 40 percent of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions.  They are also one of the largest suppliers of powering electricity in the United States.  The plan estimates that will, prevent 3,600 premature deaths, prevent 1,700 non-fatal heart attacks, prevent 90,000 asthma attack on children and prevent 300,000 missed workdays and schooldays.  In addition it will also save the average american family nearly 85 dollars a year on their energy bills, save enough energy to power 30 million homes and save consumers 155 billion dollars from the years 2020-2030.  It will also boost the American economy by creating tens of thousands of jobs, continuing to lower the costs of renewable energy and leads to 30 percent more renewable energy generation.  These are all estimates of what life will be like in the year 2030.  

Now, there are negatives with this plan, such as immediately it will be very costly to put in place.  The proposal would also force the energy industry to deal wit the cost of decommissioning or retrofitting existing, functional power delivery systems and replacing them.  This is a very costly affair.  In addition, the Chamber of Commerce states that the plan places unrealistic demands on states, which results in more burden on individuals and businesses.  The chamber believes that the level of CO2 emissions reductions is unachievable for the power plants.  

However, even though this plan is far from perfect, it is a step in the right direction in terms of fighting climate change.  The leaders of our country need to realize that climate change is a serious problem that needs to be address sooner rather than later.  There is extreme weather happening due to the high levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.  The united Sates alone lost 65 billion dollars on super storm Sandy and 2.3 billion dollars on Hurricane Isaac.  President Obama realizes that climate change is a serious issue and is stepping in the right direction to combat it with this plan.  

For more information here are some links:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change

http://www2.epa.gov/cleanpowerplan

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/06/02/Pros-and-Cons-Obama-s-New-Carbon-Rule

                                                                       

Not So Crazy Ideas On How to Combat Climate Change

Often times when talking about climate change, the same ideas are floated around.  And while most of these ideas are great, it is effective to think outside the box and think of ways that might seem a little crazy at first, but could do wonders to combat climate change.  

Here are 8 crazy sounding but not so crazy ideas to fight climate change:

1. Put reflective blankets on Greenland.  

Climate change has made Greenland’s ice sheets and glaciers melt at an alarming rate.  This means, among other things, that Earth is losing one of its most powerful reflective surfaces.  This is a very dangerous thing.  The melting rate has led glaciologist Jason Box to suggest that covering the country of Greenland in white blankets would help slow down climate change by keeping Greenland one of Earth’s most powerful reflective surfaces.  

2. Force-feed plankton blooms.

Plankton are some of the best organisms when it comes to absorbing carbon dioxide, and producing oxygen for the World.  Because of this, some scientists suggest that by placing big wave-powered pumps in the Pacific Ocean that would force the nutrient rich water in the colder regions to mix with the warmer regions and basically act like a feedlot for the large plankton blooms there.  

3. Drop Tree Bombs

This idea has some credibility because it successfully regenerated mangrove forests after Hurricanes Katrine and Rita.  Some geo-engineers think that we can generate almost instant forests by dropping these bombs that produce seedlings as soon as they hit the ground.  

4. ‘Plant” fake trees that absorb carbon. 

This proportions was proposed by Global Research Technologies.  These are artificial trees that act like real trees in which they remove carbon dioxide from the air.  The proportions stated that they would be planted on heavily congested highways.  Interesting enough, the proportion states that the trapped carbon dioxide is sold sold to soda makers for their uses of carbonation.  

5. Create man made volcanoes

This very controversial idea was first proposed by the book SuperFreakonomics.  It proposes that we mimic the ash spewing atmospheric cooling effects that a massive volcanic eruptions have.  We could do this by attaching several miles of garden hose to a helium balloon and pumping sulfer dioxide into the upper atmosphere.  This would block some sunlight and therefore cool off the planet.  

6. Giant orbital sun shield

Some scientists have thought of shooting huge mirrors into space to reflect the sun’s rays.  The mirrors could potentially be as large as the country of Greenland and would basically act as a shield blocking about 2 percent of the sun’s light.  However, there has yet to be proposed idea on how to get these giant mirrors into space.  

7. Cloud making ships.

Research has shown that puffy white low hanging clouds reflect quite a bit of sunlight.  This finding caused scientist to want to make more of these clouds.  The best way to do that would be to spray seawater high into the sky using special ships.  John Latham, one of the leading people of this concept states that it will take about 1,500 ships to do the job correctly.  

8. Raise garlic eating cattle

Cows and other livestock produce millions of tons of methane into the atmosphere each year.  Because methane is such a deadly greenhouse gas, some scientist have proposed to feed these livestock a bunch of garlic.  This is because garlic is able to kill the methane producing stomach bacteria which makes cow flatulence so deadly.  

These ideas are all very much works in progress and some of them are more crazy than others.  However, if people keep ignoring climate change and the problems with the environment, we might not have much of a choice but the put some of these ideas into action.  

For the full article click here:

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-weather/photos/9-not-so-crazy-ideas-to-combat-climate-change/junk-science-or-s

By:Garrett Sanders